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Margaretville

The second annual Holiday Treasure Express, a community-wide holiday celebration and “shop local” campaign, makes its return this year with a brand new twist. A major parade up Margaretville’s Main Street, with bands, floats, antique cars, and lots of other surprises has been scheduled for November 29 (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) to kick off the season-long event.

Jumping frogs, rumbling tractors, a barrel train and a mystifying magical performance will add to the fun at the Sixth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival Saturday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the village park. The event is free and is held rain or shine. It is sponsored by the Greater Margaretville Chamber of Commerce.

By Dorothy Jennings
Anyone laboring under the misconception that women are the weaker sex has never witnessed Black Friday’s annual shopping frenzy offering super sales beginning as early as Midnight following Thanks-giving dinner. News reports screening women frantically battling over a marked down item in Wal-Mart or Bloomingdale’s will testify to the tenacity of shopaholics possessing a shared trait near and dear to the hearts of most ladies, a bargain!
And there were bargains galore on Saturday afternoon during the Fifth Annual Fashion Show sponsored by the Auxiliary of the Margaretville Hospital. Ranging from sporty attire to elegant gowns, there was something for every taste.

RCS girls’ offense struggles
“Coming off the last couple of games, we’re definitely playing with more intensity,” praised Roxbury’s first-year girls’ soccer coach Lisa Faraci. “Things have been coming together. We’re controlling the ball more and putting together some good runs. Unfortunately, we’re still having trouble finding the nets.”

Opening this week is a new collective show by the Longyear member artists, featuring Transitory Horizons, a solo exhibition by Ann Lee Fuller. The artists’ reception will take place at Longyear Gallery on Saturday, September 27, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Ann Lee Fuller describes her work as being “a combination of literal and abstract, a meeting of contrasts.” Her well known work is inspired by the shifting weather of the Catskill Mountains rural landscape with its transitory horizons and unique moments of light created when sky meets land.

By Julia Green
Saturday, Sept. 20 marked the 145th anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of Chickamauga, a Civil War battle that signaled the end of a Union offensive in Tennessee and Georgia. Because the Union advance was stopped, the battle was considered a Confederate victory, though it was one of the deadliest of the war, claiming over 34,000 lives.
Traveling historian Charles Slater of Margaretville was joined by Jim Hitchcock as Abraham Lincoln and Ron Galley as Confederate soldier James Thadeus Holtzclaw at a Civil War program at the Stone School House in Dunraven on Saturday, the focus of which was the Battle of Chickamauga.

By Brian Sweeney
The transformation of the Margaretville A&P into a Freshtown Supermarket has been pushed back to late January, the store owners announced last week. Daniel Katz, a partner in PSK Supermarkets which is planning the new store, said the work to convert the A&P into a Freshtown store is now scheduled to begin on January 22. This work was initially supposed to start this month.
“In order to create a smooth transition, we have agreed to a lease extension with A&P. This will hopefully ensure that the store closes for only a minimal period of time,” Mr. Katz told the News.

For 100 years or more, dozens of enormous maple trees towered over Margaretville’s sidewalks, dappling them in shade. Unfortunately, in order to make room for sewer and water lines, they were all cut down in the fall of 2000. But those grand old trees, it turns out, were neither lost nor forgotten. And we have Gary Mead, a master wood craftsman, to thank for that.

By Julia Green
Despite some confusion that initially indicated that the Greater Margaretville Cham-ber of Commerce would be holding meetings to discuss a proposed name change, the chamber officially adopted its new name – the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce last week, following discussions with an attorney.
The decision to change the name was approved by a majority of the members voting. A total of 41 votes were submitted, with 34 of those falling into the “yes” column. The chamber currently has 124 members.